Position in chronology
OAIC 01
About this tablet
A short legal record from Ešnunna, east of modern Baghdad, written in Old Akkadian around 2300–2200 BCE. It names eight men, headed by a temple administrator, who witnessed a man called Mututu formally handing over a house to another man. The list stands in for a signed contract. Its witnesses guaranteed the property transfer, which is an early glimpse of real-estate law in the Akkadian period.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Eight men were present as witnesses. They were Ili-gal the temple administrator, Zuzu, Ilulu, Enamra, Ḫulium, Ilala, Ea-ili (his tally mark is broken but restorable) and Dan-ili. In total that makes ten less two, eight witnesses. They saw Mututu formally measure out and hand over a house to Ilum-azu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse/Reverse (no side division supplied): 1. 1 (person): Ili-gal, the temple administrator (sanga); 2. 1: Zuzu; 3. 1: Ilulu; 4. 1: Enamra; 5. 1: Ḫulium; 6. 1: Ilala; 7. [1]: Ea-ili; 8. 1: Dan-ili. 9. Total: 10 less 2 (= 8), witnesses 10. (that) Mututu 11. the house to Ilum-azu 12. conveyed (by measuring out).
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(asz@c) i3-li2-gal _sanga_ 1(asz@c) zu-zu 1(asz@c) i3-lu-lu 1(asz@c) e-nam-ra 1(asz@c) hu-li-um 1(asz@c) i3-la-la [1(asz@c)] e2-a-i3-li2 1(asz@c) dan-i3-li szunigin 1(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) _abba2_-bu-ut mu-tu-tu _e2_ a-na dingir-a-zu isz-du-da
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 01. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P215873) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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